Her Return

Chapter Nine

Kira literally smashed Aya's face into the concrete of the road knocking her out instantly. Vegeta stood up from the spot he was knocked to and lunged at the creation slamming his elbow into her side.

Kira rolled on the ground but then jumped back up. She smirked pulling her hand behind her back watching as Vegeta got down next to Aya rolling her over. Aya's face was covered in blood, but luckily nothing appeared broken to him. Aya's mouth hung up allowing some blood to travel from her mouth to her chin. Vegeta shook her gently trying to wake her up.

"Punk?"

"HAH!"

Vegeta turned his head. A huge ki beam came flying his way. He instantly threw Aya over his shoulder then leapt out of the way. Once Vegeta's feet came in contact with the ground again, Kira came out of nowhere slamming her elbow in the middle of his spinal cord. Vegeta screamed out in pain and dropped Aya to the ground.

Kira smirked as she then grabbed onto Vegeta's ankle. She swung him in circles then let go, throwing Vegeta straight into a building. Kira watched with a wicked smile as the building collapsed onto the saiyan prince. She then turned her head looking at the short teenager who was lying unconscious on the ground with blood covering her face.

Kira walked over to her getting close to her face. Kira took her hand and wiped away some of the blood, but only more took its place. She then latched her hand tightly on Aya's throat instantly waking her up because of the lack of oxygen she was getting to her lungs. Aya – after wiping her blood off of her face – grabbed onto Kira's wrist digging her nails into her skin trying to get her to let go.

Kira instantly stood up holding Aya out in front of her, stopping the incoming prince. "Go ahead Vegeta," Kira started with wicked smirk on her face. "Attack me."

Vegeta growled tightening his fists as Aya kicked her feet slightly trying to get out of her hold.

"Ka me ha me hah!"

A Kamehameha Wave came out of nowhere hitting Kira in her back. Kira screamed dropping Aya who instantly got to her feet and backed away from Kira. She turned her head to see Gohan standing on his two feet huffing and puffing, clearly out of breathe… and dying.

Kira smirked, "nicely done."

"HAH!"

Kira turned her head forward to see both Aya and Vegeta coming at her. Kira ducked, she placed her back onto the ground and slammed her feet up into their stomachs tossing them into the air. Vegeta reached out grabbing onto Aya's wrist. The two of them locked onto each other's wrists. Vegeta then pulled them both to a stop. He grabbed onto Aya's wrist with his other hand and began to swing Aya in circles.

He let go of her after he made a few full circles. Aya pierced through the sky heading towards Kira who had yet to notice what was going on. When she did, it was a little too late. Aya's fists pounded right into her stomach throwing both of them deeper into the ground creating a huge crater. Gohan had almost fallen into it if Vegeta didn't come flying by and scooped him out of the way.

Vegeta placed Gohan down onto the ground gently leaning him against a piece of rubble. The prince then quickly snapped his head in the direction of the crater.

There was silence for a few minutes. Then there was a really loud scream and out came Aya. Vegeta's eyes widened as he watched a ki beam throw Aya up into the air out of the crater. Kira then appeared a few seconds later. She vanished and began to hit Aya repeatedly from different angles.

Aya's body stayed in the air. Kira refused to let it hit the ground. Aya looked as if she was being tossed around like a rag doll. She could hear loud cracks coming from her body, telling her that her body wasn't going to last underneath this pressure any longer.

"Aya!" Vegeta charged forward, "BIG BANG ATTACK!" When he launched the attack, he managed to hit Kira throwing her into a building. Aya dropped from the air into Vegeta's arms.

Vegeta brought himself and Aya slowly to the ground. He rested her on her back. He leaned towards her looking into her cut up face. "Aya?"

Aya didn't answer. She laid there on the ground unconscious. Vegeta growled looking up at Kira who was approaching him from the distance. She lifted up her finger blasting a beam. Vegeta's eyes widened as the beam passed him completely going over his shoulder. He turned his head watching as the beam passed through Gohan's chest.

Gohan's eyes widened as he then screamed. Soon after the blast hit him, Gohan slowly died.

Vegeta growled turning his head to look back at Kira standing up clenching his fists. "That was low! He was defenseless!"

Kira smirked, "I do what I have too do to make sure that I win." Her smirk turned into a wicked one. "You're the only one standing at the moment. And I know I can take you down!" Kira lunged forward at Vegeta.

Vegeta braced himself by getting into his stance.

"AREIKO!" Goku called one final time. He screamed out her name so loudly that the crows and other types of birds came flying out of the trees. Goku huffed and puffed getting tired of running around trying to find Areiko.

He glanced over his shoulder back in the direction of the city. Something told him to turn around and head back to West City. Something bad has happened and he felt like he needed to be there to help Aya and Vegeta out. But he needed to find Areiko. Because if he didn't find her, there was no way of telling how they could defeat Kira.

There was more then one reason as to why Goku wanted to find Areiko. Well, actually there were only two main ones. One was to make sure that she was alive and well, and the second was to get any information about Kira. He had assumed that Kira was following Areiko around. That's what he assumed, and he didn't know how right he was.

"REIKO!" Goku cried out again after taking a deep breath. Goku glanced around him once more. He opened up his senses and felt something off in the distance.

It was strong, but also week, indicating to Goku that the person was out cold somewhere. He smiled a little as hope began to build up inside of him.

"That's gotta be her."

Goku flew off in the direction of the ki. He flew quickly till he came to a stop above a group of trees that were close together. He lowered himself as he pushed branches out of his way as he came into view of the ground.

There lying underneath him was Areiko. She was completely passed out. She was shivering a little, looking cold. That same deer was still standing near her sniffing her hair. But when the deer noticed Goku, it took off leaping over the bushes taking off.

"Areiko?"

Goku got down onto his knees placing his hand onto her shoulder rolling her over onto her back. "Hey Areiko?"

She didn't respond to him. Areiko just laid there on the ground with her eyes still closed looking peaceful, sort of. Goku glanced around him, trying to figure out what he could use to wake her up. He then lifted her up into his arms and walked off trying to find a lake or a river or even a small little stream.

He found his stream after walking for a few minutes. Goku placed Areiko onto the ground gently leaning her up against a tree that wasn't that far from the stream. He turned around taking off his shirt. He got onto his knees and dipped it into the water. The saiyan dipped the shirt in the water a few times before he actually rung it out and walked back towards Areiko.

Goku seated himself down into the grass next to her. He then took his shirt and rung it out again, spilling the freezing cold water all over Areiko's face. The water rolled down her neck touching her chest, which woke her up alright. Maybe not in a bolt like someone usually would when a bucket of cold was poured onto them.

She groaned loudly tightening her eyes. Goku leaned over her a little bit looking into her face. "Reiko?"

She groaned again, this time opening her eyes. She looked around before her eyes focused on Goku. She closed them again turning her head. "Where am I?"

"Mount Paoz Woods." Goku answered helping her sit up. "Are you alright?"

Areiko nodded.

"What happened?" Goku asked. Areiko looked at him shaking her head then standing up.

"Nothing."

"Areiko don't lie to me." Goku started standing up after her. "Vegeta and Aya are fighting that girl in West City."

Areiko froze. "They're… what?"

"Fighting her." Goku stated again, "who is she?"

Areiko shook her head looking in the direction that she thought was West City. "Goku! They can't fight her alone! They'll get killed! We gotta go help them!"

"Areiko relax!" Goku placed his hands onto her shoulders. "Relax!"

"I can't!" Areiko shouted grabbing onto his arms, but not tightly. "I lost so much because of her! And I don't want to loose anyone else!"

Goku stared at her as she continued. "Come on Goku!" Areiko grabbed onto his wrist and took off running dragging Goku along with her.

Kira and Vegeta were in a violent fight. Something so violent that there was blood splattering everywhere. But, it was only Vegeta losing his blood. Kira had always managed to find a weak point in Vegeta's attacks sending them either right back at him, or off into the air like they were nothing.

Vegeta was covered in blood, from head to toe. He was covered in bruises, claw marks, burn marks, bite marks, cuts, gashes, anything else that you could think of that was conflicting to the human or saiyan body. Vegeta had lost so much blood, he didn't know if he could continue to fight Kira, who didn't have one single scratch on her. The only thing that looked wrong with her was her clothing; they were torn up a little bit.

Vegeta leapt back, away from Kira putting some distance in between them. He stood there hunched over a little panting badly. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he stared at his enemy, Areiko's younger sibling.

"What's the matter Vegeta?" Kira asked crossing her arms and tilting her head. "A little tired?"

Vegeta didn't answer; he just stood there, continuing to pant.

"You lost a lot of blood too," she added, "but you don't have to worry, your pain will end soon." Kira placed a wicked smile onto her face.

Vegeta stopped panting and growled. He turned his eyes over onto Aya hoping that she was wake and alert to help him out. But she was still out cold. After what happened to her, he knew that she wasn't going to be awake for quite sometime. When he turned his eyes back to where Kira was, she was gone. She completely vanished.

Vegeta's eyes widened glancing around. Suddenly, Vegeta's left cheek came in contact with Kira's elbow, throwing him to the ground. Vegeta clenched his eyes shut allowing the pain to rush through; already he knew that his cheek was swelling.

Kira appeared in front of him again kicking his stomach. Vegeta rolled onto his back clenching his eyes even tighter. Kira reached down latching onto Vegeta's throat lifting him up into the air. Vegeta struggled in Kira's grip holding onto her wrist tightly as he gasped for air. But the more he gasped, the tighter Kira's grip became.

"Stop struggling," Kira said to him. "You're only going to hurt yourself."

Vegeta managed to growl. Kira rolled her eyes as she began to pummel her fist into Vegeta's stomach. Vegeta clenched his eyes shut as the pain shot through his stomach. It was rather painful to fight for air when its only getting knocked out of you with every punched to the gut. Over and over again she continued to punch him till Vegeta fell unconscious.

Kira dropped him and he hit the ground with a thump. She rolled her eyes looking over at Aya who was also still unconscious.

"Well that wasn't as much fun as I thought it would've been. That girl over there barely lasted and I thought she would." Kira shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well."

Kira walked off kicking and stepping over Piccolo's corpse.

Areiko and Goku were now flying as fast as they could to West City. Goku was having a hard time keeping up with Areiko. A few times he had asked her to slow down just a little bit while in the process of trying to calm Areiko down. But nothing was going to calm her. She was extremely worried. Obviously she knew what this girl was capable of and the rest of them didn't.

"Reiko," Goku started once more, "they're going to be fine."

"For the last damn time Goku no they're not!" Areiko bellowed turning her head to look at him. "None of you know what she's capable of! But I do!"

Goku stared at her as she turned her head away from him. "Reiko, what did she do to you?"

Areiko was silent for a minute. It was only a matter of time that it was going to boil down to this. She knew that she was going to have to confess to Goku who Kira was and why she was here and everything. That's the reason why she left, so that something like this wouldn't happen again.

"That's not the right question Goku," Areiko replied sounding a little soft. "The question is… what didn't she do?"

Goku stared at her. He could only imagine the horrible things that Kira had done. But he figured that he would allow Areiko to tell him first before he asked any questions.

"She… well… destroyed my life." Areiko continued, "at first when I arrived in New York—"

"New York?"

"It's in a place called America." Areiko answered. "Far away from here." She added. "But when I arrived there… these two teenagers, Trigger and Pyro took me in once I was found. There was peace for about… maybe a year, and when I turned sixteen… everything started to fall apart."

"Like… what?"

"When Kira – that's her name – showed up. She started messing with me. Like… mentally. She was somehow able to contact me through telepathy without me knowing. She started telling me all about these things about me… about my other side… she said that if I started cutting my wrists and drinking my own blood I would be able to stay in control."

"And that's why you didn't want to answer Aya when she asked?"

Areiko nodded, "that's exactly why I didn't want to answer." She sighed. "But in reality… I realized that it doesn't help me. It only makes me crave blood even more… and I continued to loose it more and more. I finally had to tell Pyro and Trigger who I was and everything. But they still accepted me. When I finally met Kira in person… I learned that she was shape shifter. And every time I went to show Trigger or Pyro her, she shape shifted into something. She made me seem crazy. To everyone."

Goku stayed silent letting her tell the story.

"A few times here and there I would see her and scream her out in the middle of nowhere. Again, Kira would either shape shift or disappear. When I would go out for walks late at night to see if I could find her. She would appear, beat the shit out of me to the point where I would either be knocked out for weeks on end or lose my sanity. When I finally had enough with Kira's bull shit after two years of dealing with it. I decided to run."

"Areiko…"

"I know what you're going to say Goku," Areiko cut in. "I can never solve anything by running away. But with Kira, there was nothing else I could do! When I left the city I realized that no matter where I went… she was always going to find me and torture me. But right when I sensed there was something wrong, I turned around and ran back to the city… too only see that it was destroyed…."

"There… weren't any survivors?" Goku asked still having a hard time keeping up with Areiko.

"There was one," Areiko said lifting up her finger. "Just one… and that was Trigger." Areiko placed a small smile onto her face shaking her head. "She hated the sight of me."

"Why?"

"She thought that I had killed Pyro. But it wasn't me. I knew it. It was Kira, she was the only one that was capable of making herself look exactly like me and destroy an entire city! Trigger punched me…" Areiko placed her hand onto her cheek where she remembered Trigger punching her. "She told me to leave… so I did. But when I left, Kira literally bombed the city. When I turned around, I watched the city of New York explode into flames. I heard Kira talking to me… telling me that no matter where I went… she was going to follow me. So I panicked and came back home…"

Goku was silent. Because of his silence, Areiko fell silent. They two of them hated that awkward silence so Areiko decided to break it.

"See Goku? You don't know what she's capable of. Aya and Vegeta could be dead or dying… or something while we're chit-chatting about my past life I really don't want remember. Or discuss, I wanna get to Aya and Vegeta as quickly as possible!"

Areiko sped off basically leaving Goku in the dust. But Goku caught up, only because Areiko had stopped at the outskirts of West City.

Smoke lifted up off of the ground and from the flames of the burning buildings. Everything was covered in dust. Nothing was left standing at the part of the city where they were located. The streets were covered in craters as if a storm of ki beams and blasts passed through the city.

"This is a record for her…" Areiko stated looking around. "She's must've done this under five minutes…"

"But at least there are no bodies anywhere."

"She probably ate them." Areiko added lowering herself to the ground with Goku following her.

The two of them began to walk forward glancing around at everything. It was all covered in dust and soot. They could feel the heat waves from the heat of the fires; they even spotted a few fires that were just starting. Areiko then stepped on something, and it talked to her:

"Momma."

Areiko blinked then looked down. She pulled her foot off of the doll that she had stepped on. It looked fairly new except for the fact that it was covered in dust and soot. Areiko bent down onto her knees then picked up the doll. She rubbed the soot off of the doll's face looking at it.

All Areiko could think was that this doll belonged to a little girl that was murdered and eaten by Kira. There was a slim chance that the girl had gotten away, but Areiko doubted that chance a lot. She sighed standing upright tossing the doll to her side. Goku was watching her the whole time.

"Come on," Areiko started walking forward, "we gotta find Aya and Vegeta before it's too late." She continued walking with Goku following behind her after she took a few paces.

They continued walking in silence, calling out the names of their comrades. The flames around them basically engulfed every section of the city. Areiko moved a few pieces of rubble but didn't find anything but a body. She turned her head away pressing her lips together lowering the piece of rubble.

She looked up, there over a hill of rubble and debris laid a body that looked really familiar to her. Areiko identified the body as her best friend, Aya Briefs.

"Aya!" Areiko cried getting Goku's attention. Areiko climbed over the mount of rubble then slid down it landing on her knees. She stood up instantly running over to her. Goku climbed up to the top of the mount looking over Areiko's head to spot Vegeta in the distance.

"Aya-chan…?" Areiko called looking into her dusty and badly bruised face. "Aya?" Areiko gently placed her hand onto her best friend's shoulder, but she quickly withdrew her hand once she saw Aya's body jolt in pain.

Goku walked past Areiko getting to Vegeta. Goku rolled Vegeta onto his back seeing how badly he was messed up. Goku knew that Vegeta fought hard, he didn't doubt that. Goku just didn't like the fact at how beat up he was.

Goku looked up and over at Areiko. "We should get them to lookout."

Areiko nodded, "yeah, I agree. Hopefully Kira hasn't been there yet…" Areiko stated slowly picking Aya up. Goku turned away from her. He felt like that no matter what he would say to Areiko, she would always turn it into a negative thing or say something negative. He was really missing the old Areiko.

The two of them didn't waste their time flying. They decided to use instant transmission; it would've been quicker that way. When they got to the lookout, Areiko mentally sighed happy that Kira hasn't reached the lookout yet.

"This shows that she's still busy in West City…" Areiko mumbled laying Aya down onto the lookout deck.

Dende came rushing out, about to tell them all that has happened but when he stepped onto the lookout's deck, he saw that they already knew since they had brought Aya and Vegeta here.

Dende quickly went to work.

Areiko stood off to the side watching as Dende worked on Vegeta, since he looked the worse out of them all. Goku approached her, taking the picture that he had found out of his sash and handing it to her.

"I think this is yours Reiko…" Goku said to her. Areiko turned her head blinking a few times. She then looked down at the picture, almost instantly she broke down in tears. She slowly took the picture from him staring at it. She sighed slipping it into her pocket.

"Thanks Goku." Areiko said looking back at Dende who had shifted over to Aya. "Where did you find it?" Areiko then asked pulling the picture out of her pocket.

"I found it on the ground while I was looking for you." Goku answered her. "The kids in the picture… is that Pyro and Trigger?"

Areiko nodded, "yeah, this is Trigger and that's Pyro." Areiko pointed out. "They were great."

"I didn't know you liked to sing." Goku stated.

Areiko lifted up her head looking at Dende, who was still healing Aya, "I didn't know I did either till the first time I saw Pyro and Trigger. Then I wrote a song and played it in front of a group of people… and I fell in love with it."

"Oh."

"Maybe after everything is over and I get myself a new guitar," Areiko slipped the picture back into her pocket. "I'll play something for you."

Goku nodded, "sounds good."

"But right now, I wanna focus on Kira… I have a feeling that Kira's going to show up here…"